1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to jewelry. It relates more particularly to such jewelry consisting of hollow beads and similar ornaments strung on a support such as a chain or wire which can be engaged around a person's neck, wrist or ankle. In some cases the beads are spaced apart along the support; in other cases, they are arranged in groups which groups are spaced apart along the support. In either event, steps must be taken to provide stops for at least some of the beads to maintain the proper spacing of the individual beads or groups of beads along the support and to prevent them from sliding off the support in the event the support should break.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional necklaces, bracelets, and the like the positions of some or all of the beads on the support are fixed by stops which may consist of drops of solder on the support that bracket each bead or group of beads. In the case where the support is a chain or wire, the chain or wire may be deformed to form a flat which cannot pass through the holes in the adjacent beads. In both cases, the stops, being located in the support outside the beads, may be visible and thus detract from the ornamental appearance of the necklace, bracelet or the like.
The conventional methods for locking beads are disadvantaged also in that the stops must be provided at the time the jewelry article is being assembled. This means that the arrangement of beads on the necklace, bracelet or the like is fixed by the time it is purchased by a customer. Thereafter there is no possibility of reconfiguring the beads on the jewelry article.
To address this problem, I have recently developed self locking beads which can be adjustably positioned on their supports; see U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,376. The self locking beads allow a purchaser of the jewelry article to reposition the beads on their supports to suit the desires of that purchaser. The self locking beads described in that patent consist of a shell having aligned holes for stringing the shell on a support. A plastic tube extends between the holes within the shell, the inner diameter of that tube being smaller than the diameter of the holes. When the bead is strung on a support such as a chain, the inner wall of the tube frictionally engages the links of the chain thereby holding the bead at a fixed location along the bead unless the bead is slid along the chain with sufficient force to overcome that frictional engagement.
While that self locking bead performs its function quite well, it is disadvantaged somewhat in that it is difficult to initially string the beads along a chain or other support because the inner wall of the included plastic tube is smaller than the bead holes so that the tube frictionally engages the chain or other support during the stringing process. Of course, increasing the inner diameter of the plastic tube in that patented bead would defeat the purpose of the invention there. In other words, the same feature which gives that prior bead its superior adjustable self locking function, also makes it more difficult to string that bead on its support in the first place. Bearing in mind that a given necklace may have a large number of my prior beads, the process of stringing a necklace with those beads can be a tedious and time consuming task.